Loans will be given for solar power generation

Power and Energy Secy.

May 14, 2013, 10:21 pm

By Mario Andree

The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) had been left with no alternative but to increase tariffs as banks were refusing to approve loans due to the heavy losses suffered by that state enterprise, Secretary to the Ministry of Power and Energy M. M. C. Ferdinando said.

Several power projects were in the pipeline to help the CEB to reduce the power tariffs, he said.

Two 600 MW coal power plants were in the process of being approved. They would generate cheap power and power purchase agreements were under in discussion, he said.

Ferdinando said that the country was badly in need of new power plants to meet the growing demand for power.

He said that several options were available to households to generate their own power.

Two solar power plants of 30 MW were being developed in Hambantota and Jaffna and their costs were high. A unit of solar generated power was Rs. 23 and the CEB had several issues in the pricing, Ferdinando said.

However, the household generated electricity would help the national grid meet the demand. Loan facilities for installing solar power generators and solar batteries were in the process of being approved, he said.